Tuesday, December 11, 2012 12:53 pm

Democrats: Don't cut Medicaid in fiscal cliff deal

The Associated Press

Liberal Democratic members of Congress are warning President Barack Obama to not cut the Medicaid health care program as part of negotiations with Republicans over avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., said Tuesday that Obama knows that "our votes are at stake" over the issue.

He and other Democrats held a news conference with labor and other liberal groups to say that cuts to Medicaid should not be accepted as a trade-off with Republicans in exchange for Obama's goal of raising income tax rates on the highest earners. Medicaid covers nearly 60 million low-income and disabled people.

Obama and Republicans are negotiating over ways to avoid the "fiscal cliff," steep tax increases and spending cuts that will otherwise automatically take effect in January.